In the days before the annual ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum that serves to remember those who were killed in the terror attacks 19 years ago, there is typically plenty of work that goes into setting up – but that setup looks a bit different this year.

While normal things like speakers will still be present for the reading of names, there will be no stages at the solemn occasion this year. Instead, hand sanitizer stations installed by crews in masks will dot the grounds in Lower Manhattan – a reminder that the COVID pandemic changes even in the most solemn of moments.

The museum said it wanted to find a way to balance safety and tradition this year.

“It was, how we could do it safely that became a question for us,” said 9/11 Memorial Museum Director Alice Greenwald. “We’ve always had a stage.  And we’ve seen too many examples of when you have a stage, people naturally gather.”

With no stage this year, family members have pre-recorded victims’ names, which will be streamed online Friday morning. Victims’ families can still gather in person at the memorial and hear the names of their loved ones read aloud, as groups will be safely spread out on the plaza’s eight acres. The ringing of bells, signifying each attack on Sept. 11, 2001, will still ring out too, complete with honour guard.

Other members of the public will be allowed on the grounds staring around 3 p.m. until midnight. All other large gatherings will be discouraged, although there is an unofficial ceremony at a corner near the World Trade Centre. The split in ceremonies came after a divide over the memorial’s decision to not have the names read in person, due to COVID concerns.

Vice President Mike Pence is expected to be at both the remembrances in the city, while Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his wife Jill will attend the observance at the memorial plaza before traveling to to Shanksville, Pennsylvania for the Flight 93 National Memorial. President Donald Trump will also attend the Pennsylvania memorial, however he and Biden will be present at separate times.

Other changes involve the 9/11 Memorial and Museum itself. It will open Friday for family members after being closed for six months. On Saturday, it will open to the general public, with timed tickets and all social distancing rules required.

COVID concerns at first canceled The Tribute in Light, the beams of light that soar into the air. But Memorial officials, with state and donor support, have now worked to make sure the production crew is safe. The lights will shine starting Friday around dusk.

“We can integrate that loss and create transformation and beauty out of tragedy … This is about the community coming together and saying, ‘This means something to us so profound, we must have it,’” said Greenwald. “It is an unusual year. But what was never in doubt is would we commemorate. That was a given.”